Sarasin & Partners LLP Has $466.19 Million Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Sarasin & Partners LLP lifted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 16.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 796,213 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 113,433 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 5.1% of Sarasin & Partners LLP’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest position. Sarasin & Partners LLP’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $466,191,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $616.46 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $381.16 and a 12-month high of $638.40. The business’s 50 day moving average is $598.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $558.31. The company has a market capitalization of $1.56 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Roth Mkm lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $651.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $613.85, for a total value of $22,050,105.85. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $574.16, for a total transaction of $237,128.08. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,147,531.12. The trade was a 3.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 531,190 shares of company stock worth $322,938,501 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc engages in the development of products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, and wearables worldwide. It operates in two segments, Family of Apps and Reality Labs. The Family of Apps segment offers Facebook, which enables people to share, discuss, discover, and connect with interests; Instagram, a community for sharing photos, videos, and private messages, as well as feed, stories, reels, video, live, and shops; Messenger, a messaging application for people to connect with friends, family, communities, and businesses across platforms and devices through text, audio, and video calls; and WhatsApp, a messaging application that is used by people and businesses to communicate and transact privately.